Mr. Romance & Me

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, I thought my first blog entry should explain how I met my husband Vince. 

We were pioneers. No, we didn’t arrive in North America on the Mayflower, nor were we Fur Traders for the Hudson’s Bay Company. But we were among the first couples to meet via an online BBS.  Internet BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEMS were rudimentary local message boards and chat-rooms in the early 90s.  A friend hooked me up to the Internet for my birthday, in the Spring of 1993.  And that’s how I got drawn into the Great Electronic Universe - kind of like Jeff Bridges in the original TRON film, but without all the really cool animation.

A young Jeff Bridges in TRON Circa 1982.

After several weeks of chatting on The Powderkeg, a Writer’s BBS and message board, fondly known as The Keg, I also joined Black Lace, a social BBS and live chat board, whose name, I can assure you, was the ONLY really risqué thing about it, at least for me. At the time, it was quite a unique, heady experience to be sitting at my desk, typing away, 'chatting' with all these interesting people. 

One day I worked up the nerve to attend one of their weekly get-togethers at an east-end Pub. Calling myself Satin, (to my mind definitely a ‘smoother’ alias choice than perhaps, uh, Corduroy) I was accompanied by my dear friend Ellen, who had no clue about any of this BBS chat stuff, but gamely went along as my ‘security’. Known for her bon mots (clever remarks) and for constantly tossing around puns like grenades, she’s often joked that I should call her ‘The Unknown Celebrity’ like the Gong Show’s Unknown Comic. Okay… 
 

My friend Ellen as the 'Unknown Celebrity'!

The Unknown Comic - Nova Scotia's Murray Langston (The Gong Show, Late 70s)

Walking into the Pub, we spotted a table with two friendly-looking chaps who asked us to join them. Smoothie, a huggable, teddy bear of a guy, was sitting with this cute, skinny, dude who was sporting a 10 gallon Cowboy hat which appeared to be wearing him. I discovered to my amusement - and relief, that most of the fast-talking guys 'n gals I'd been chatting with over the 'Net, were basically sweet, shy, computer geeks. Although, trust me, some knew how to party-hearty. Fast forward 6 years…, guess which one was the D.J. and which one was the Groom at our wedding? If you guessed that I got hitched to cute Mr. Cowboy Hat, give yourself a pat on the back.

“How did you know he was THE ONE?" Glad you asked! I love to dance, and nobody seemed to be taking advantage of the Pub’s dance floor. Vinnie noticed me looking longingly at it, so he asked me to dance. Then he walked over to the D. J. and surprised me by requesting Chris de Burgh's song LADY IN RED as I was wearing a fuchsia blouse at the time. 

Here comes MY favourite part of this story - on the dance floor we seemed to melt into each other’s arms. Now in my case, enjoying dancing doesn’t mean being a great dancer, or even a good one. Normally I stumble around clumsily and over-enthusiastically, but for the first time EVER, I was actually floating around on the dance-floor like Ginger ‘Twinkletoes’ Rogers with my very own debonnaire Fred Astaire! And that, laddies and gentlewomen, is how I  KNEW we had something magical here… I mean the man literally swept me off my feet. Ah, l'amour! (Pausing now, for the collective swoon.)

Sheesh, were we ever that young? Vinnie and yours truly, the summer of 1995.
It’s one of the few pix of me with very long hair, and I’m wearing his cap. 
Neither of which you can see due to the darkness of the photo. Drat.

I was dating a few nice guys at that time, but nobody could hold a candle to Mr. Romance! We were inseparable from the moment we met, teetering on the precipice of 'Shmoopiness'.

 

Almost, but not quite as bad, as Seinfeld and Sheila.

Vinnie and Joycie's version of a P.D.A. (public display of affection): Once, when Vince and I were visiting my mother in Montreal, we found ourselves at the Berri-de Montigny metro station. It's the busiest subway artery in Montreal. There we encountered an extremely talented violinist playing a beautiful rendition of the Blue Danube.  Impulsively, Vinnie gathered me into his arms, and we danced right there on the platform until our train arrived.

André Rieu - The Blue Danube. Of course he was not our Metro Busker! ;);)

This Valentine's Day we’ll be celebrating almost 20 years of ‘tripping the light fantastic’. 

And the adventure continues…